Promise to Keep
by AssassinaAquila
Summary: Luffy was insistent in finding a musician for his crew…but why? Could there be a reason behind Luffy's need for a musician? What about…a promise? Lots of Nakamaship; SI-OFC, hinted Zoro/OC and Brook/OC. Rating may go up.


**A Promise to Keep**

_Prologue__: Change in the Winds_

* * *

><p><em><span>Prologue<span>: Change in the Winds_

There was a ruckus going on above deck; a cacophony of stomping feet, barraged with indecipherable shouts and the occasional bang of cannon fire. Combined, it held a glorious melody of chaos.

I haven't felt this poetic in _years_. I believe that deserves some reminiscing~.

Many years ago I would've accused myself as being 'normal' and 'sane'; living 21-years in the country known as American can cause mistakes like that to happen. I had an ordinary name, came from an ordinary family that had the 2.5 kids, the house with the picket fence, the dog, the whole shebang; I finished ordinary high school, found out that ordinary college really wasn't for me, and ended up working as an ordinary tech support for a really crappy electronics company. I went through the ups and downs of relationships, realized that some people were not worth a broken heart over, and most of the time kept people at arms distance.

I could go into further detail about my 'normal' years, but the thing is I've made my peace that I could never return to that part of my life a long time ago. Why?

Because…

_/The roads were slick with the recent snowfall, and I stupidly thought that going this route was the safest and fastest way to go. Down the road, across the bridge, and over the river to grandma's house, right?_

_My back tires started skating first over the black ice, and I was in a fishtail before I even knew it._ Crack_ went the front fender as it hit the guardrail. _Snap _sounded from my neck when the seatbelt failed and I was sent flying through the windshield. And _Splash_ as my body smashed through the thin ice and into a watery grave. For an eternity there was agonizing pressure and ice forming inside my body, and in that instant…/_

…I died.

At least, I believe I did. The whole going into the winter waters and not remembering what happened after the whole 'descent into darkness' thing was the big selling point, but it lead to waking up to a summer breeze and cradled in ocean waves. But going into the how's of dying in a river and waking in the ocean and the possibilities of water being the portal between worlds or if I'm just in a coma and everything around me is just a dream was, in a word…

Tedious. Far too tedious to bother going into real detail for.

But I only realized where I was when my first encounter in this new world was with a Sea King.

A real ugly thing too, all teeth with tiny eyes and an eel-like body, similar looking to an angler fish to my death-addled mind. And at that moment there was a great revelation that resounded deep within my soul.

This rebirth did something _weird_ to my mind; facing that monstrous Sea King as it hovered over me with a hungry gleam in its eyes, sharp teeth parting to eat me whole, the only thing that had me startled was the complete _lack_ of fear I had at my situation. I knew fear, I remember how it felt in what I was quickly terming as my Life v1.0, remember the sweat on the palms and the racing heartbeat from adrenaline and the tunnel vision, but as I gazed at that monster, there was nothing.

Nothing, except for the _contempt_ at having my thoughts interrupted by an oily-looking, snaggle-toothed, scaly _worm_ of a sea monster~!

Needless to say, even I was baffled on how I defeated the angler-eel king and used it to hitch a ride across the sea. It had quickly learned to fall under my rule or suffer the consequences, if the defeated look in its eyes as it cried pathetically was anything to go by.

And as I rode my new steed into the sunset, there was many things that I pondered over without any sort of interruptions (which I and any of my traveling companions quickly learned that interrupting my thoughts in this new Life v2.0 was a _really **bad**_ thing to do).

Out of all the fandoms that I followed in Life v1.0, _One Piece_ wasn't among the top I would've chosen had I had the chance. Of course there were scarier ones like _Yu Yu Hakusho_ or _Naruto_ that would've made me shit myself because death was an almost near certainty in those (even though the bishounen in both would've made dealing with death constantly almost worth it). But all things considering, it was a series that I grew up on and was pretty familiar with all the main events and characters. It was only scary in how utterly insane it could get, but survivable in the right conditions and if the person was equally as insane as the circumstance.

And considering I had defeated a Sea King within moments of waking in this world, I was well on my way of becoming a survivor.

Something became unhinged in my mind the moment of my death in Life v1.0. Not only could I no longer feel fear, but there was a blood-thirsty thrill singing through my veins when the thought of facing the insane monsters in this world crossed my mind. Events that I could change, people I could save…

**_Enemies that I can destroy~!_**

Whew~, that's going to be an urge I have to contain somehow.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I had just defeated a Sea King, used it as my bitch to get to the closest island, and finally pondered on 'when' I was in this series.

That, however, was answered when I found _him_.

_/"Oi! I'm going to be King of the Pirates, and **you're** going to be in my crew!"/_

He was far cuter in person in his kiddy stage. All fluff and big eyes and big mouth, not yet grown into those powerful fists yet; I believe he was only 7 when I met him, sometime after he met the red-haired pirate but before eating that cursed fruit.

_/"Oh~, how adamant you are…"/_

I couldn't help myself at the time.

_/"Let's make a deal, kid."/_

It was too good to pass up.

_/"You got it, oni-ba!"/_

So at the start of my new life, I promised to join the crew of the future Pirate King under one condition…

_/"When you get a musician on your crew, come find me. You should be a big-shot by then, ne~?"/_

And it was just too easy.

_/"I'll find the most awesome musician then! And when I do, you better be alive or I'll kick your ass!"/_

As I reminisce these memories, a sharp smile splits my lips from ear to ear when one of the marine's cannon fodder exclaimed in the distance. "Sir! Orders from above, Kuma the Tyrant is being sent to Thriller Bark!"

And here.

_/"I'll hold you to it then."/_

We.

_/"Luffy."/_

GO.

**AN: So a little plot bunny hopped in front of me, and I just couldn't help myself. Mostly making this because Brook is awesome and he deserves a lot of love! That and I wanted to try a Self-Insert fic and see how I do. Welp, you guys know the drill, tell me what you think and all that. Byebye for now~!**


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